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Honda Civic Brake Questions

Comments

Thank you so much for your advice. My 2nd opinion said he thought it was an excellent to good rating and didn't have any idea what the other guy was talking about! Pay it forward...I'll make sure to tell others how helpful your advice and this site are! Have a great day!

Did you ever got an answer on your civic break problem? I have a 97 civic and the same thing happened to me today. Can you please let me know what the problem was and what was the solution?Thank you![email protected]

I have had my Honda Civic for a little over 6 months and just this last weekend road in the passenger seat. I knew the ride was rough but not so bad in driver seat. Is there anything that can be done to smooth out the ride?

The tires are the ones that were on it when I bought it. I considered perhaps tires and shocks. My husband thought that anything different as far as shocks would change the way it handled. Thanks for the info...I'll check into both.

Where are you going to get more compliant dampers or springs? OEM is as soft as it gets. Koni only has their sport model dampers out - too firm. Tokico sells dampers as well, but only from a little more aggressively damped non-adjusable HPs to a even firmer adjustable HTS model.

I don't have a clue about what or where...open to suggestions. OEM? Will this be costly? Thought about going back to dealership that sold me the car and trying to trade, but would probably get "screwed' in the deal.

Good point but I was using the term "compliant" to mean "responsive through a wide range of conditions". This is not the same as "soft". I guess a better definition of a "compliant" shock, in terms of upgrading from OEM, would be "more sophisticated response".

I bought a 1995 Civic just a couple months ago. Just recently, the brakes on the car became very spongy. The brake pads are still in excellent condition still. I bought 4 calipers, a brake booster box, and a new master cylinder. My boyfriend and I bled the new master cylinder before we put it on the car. When we bled the brakes on the car, while off, the brakes were nice and firm. When I turned the car on to take it for a test drive, the brakes went straight to the floor with no resistance. My boyfriend got in the car to see if he could feel anything different, and pumped the brakes the 3 times. The brakes firmed for a few seconds, but then lost all firmness. All we have left is the proportion valve and brake lines that we haven't fixed. The car whines like a dying animal when the brakes are being applied. We cannot find any air leakage, but can hear what sounds like air escaping. We also checked under the car for any brake fluid that could be leaking from a broken line, but couldn't find anything. Is there anyone who can suggest something I can try doing? I am starting to run out of options and I don't know what to do. I would be very appreciative of any help I can get!

Bleeding the master cylinder prior to installing it is called bench bleeding. This is what the instructions with the new cylinder said to do.

It wasn't me who modified the car, it was that way when I purchased it. The car originally had abs, but when they installed a different motor, etc.., the car now does not have abs. Could this have anything to do with the issues I am having?

Gee I dunno. Which car does the master cylinder belong to. Did you buy one for an Acura or a Civic?

I think what I would do if I were you is bleed the master in place by removing all the lines and plugging the holes with the right metric or ISO brass plugs.

Once it is bleed, at least you know THAT'S right.

As for what else can cause the pedal to drop all the way----maybe the wrong thickness of rotor, the wrong pads, etc--what i'm driving at here is that the caliper pistons, or rear wheel cylinders, are extending out too far.

The master cylinder is for an Acura, the one for the Civic is a totally different one. Ok, question, if the caliper pistons, or rear wheel cylinders, are extending out too far, why are the brakes hard when the car is not turned on? Is this something that is normal, and I have just never noticed it?

This is what I put in my first post:When we bled the brakes on the car, while off, the brakes were nice and firm. When I turned the car on to take it for a test drive, the brakes went straight to the floor with no resistance.

What I meant was, if it wasn't clear, is that when the car is off, the brakes were nice & firm, and when I started it, the brakes go straight to the floor. So yes to what you asked.

After you exhaust the reserve boost, keep your foot on the brake pedal and start the car; a properly functioning booster should experience a slight drop in pedal height. Too bad I gave away my factory service manuals for the Integra when I sold it.

Hi, picked up my 2010 Honda Civic LX-S auto yesterday and the first thing that I noticed was that the brakes does not feel responsive enough. Is this by design for this generation? Coming from a 2007 Honda Fit Sport and my wife's Mazda 3i touring where I can gauge how the car stops, the Civic feels like it slows to a stop even when I am already pressing hard on the brakes. It reminds me of our 1998 CRV and 1988 Mitsubishi Van. Both heavy cars that takes a while to come to a complete stop. Why does the Civic feel the same way? :confuse:

Brakes need time to wear in and mate between pads and rotors. If I wanted good brakes, I would've spent the cash and gotten the EX with all disc brakes, not antiquated rear drums. Better tires brake pads will do wonders for improving stopping ability.

I agree. Speaking of antiquated rear drum brakes, I noticed the cover on mine for both sides are already rusty. I understand that it can get rusty over time but it rusted up after a few months. Its an eye sore at this point (shiny silver alloys with a bright red rusty background) but its not affecting driveability.

Really, the issue of the brake's "responsiveness" is in a way subjective and one of managing expectations. Now if they felt radically different between YOUR new 2010 Honda Civic LX-S and another 2010 Honda Civic LX-S, then that might bear further analysis.

To expect them to feel EXACTLY like your Honda Fit Sport and/or Mazda 3i touring, might be an exercise in unrealistic expectations. There are literally a host of reasons why/why not. There are also a lot of reason's for the rear drum brakes. Durability (in the rear stopping application) seems to be one of them. They (seem to) do last app 2 times longer than the fronts which are disc/pads. In addition, there are indications REAR PADS/ROTORS might even wear FASTER (than the front rotors and pads) by a factor of 2 TIMES, for a delta of up to 4 times !!!! The "English" translation (in my case) would be rear pads lasting 20,000 to 50,000 vs the 200,000-240,000 miles projected.

So for example, I just had a front brake job done. The front pads and rotors lasted 117,946 miles. I went with OEM brake pads and OE SPECIFICATION front rotors (Brembo). No aftermarket vendor has stepped up and claimed their product will last miles to percentages GREATER than oem pads. OEM rotors are much costlier (48%). If the OEM pads are only going to last 117,946 miles, I decided to get a good quality, yet $ CHEAPER replacement rotors. My hope and expectation are this 2nd set of pads/rotors last @ least 150,000 miles as the oem set had a lube issue on one side of the caliper which caused the inside right side pad to wear a shade quicker. One to all of the other three drivers did not catch this in time to save the one front oem rotor. While I would have prefered to REuse the oem rotors (if it met all conditions), using the rotors a second cycle (in my case 120,000+ miles est) can be done if you know the drill, accept the gambit of risks and is situational. In my case, the rotors COULD have been used, (if we had caught the lubrication issue earlier) but going 150,000 miles MORE miles (270,000 miles total) on the new set of pads MAY have exceeded rotor limit specifications. If it does and you do not know and/or monitor it, ...IT is NOT a good thing.

The rear shoes and drums were measured and inspected and pronounced good to go for @ least another 100,000 miles, or to 220,000 miles. At that time, the most likely failure will be a brake cylinder seal leak. In which case, a $5. rebuild kit and brake cleaner will probably make @ least the drum reuseable. Shoes will likely need to be replaced.

To expect them to feel EXACTLY like your Honda Fit Sport and/or Mazda 3i touring, might be an exercise in unrealistic expectations.

Oh no, I have no expectations that it should be the same as my previous '07 Honda Fit Sport but more a comparison/observation. The 2010 Honda Civic LX-S brakes and even my dad's 2009 Honda Civic LX "brake feel" felt like a minivan specifically like the ones we owned (Mitsubishi Van LS and Toyota Van LE). When you step on the brakes even in emergency situations, it "feels" hard and "feels" like its not responding in conjuction to your foot depressing on the brake pedal or not stopping fast enough as you perceive you think it should. Its definitely an adaptation issue and I've since learned to adjust and have no issues with it today.

The funny part is the Mazda 3i (my wife's car) felt the most responsive but checking Edmunds' road test results, the 2007 Honda Fit Sport comes on top with 60-0 of 123.61 feet, the 2008 Civic LX comes 2nd with 128 feet and the 2010 Mazda 3i Touring with 135 feet.